Arcane's finale was originally longer as the showrunner admits "some things" were cut
Nov. 26, 2024Exclusive: Christian Linke says it was “mostly action” that didn’t make the cut
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Arcane’s co-creator Christian Linke reveals that some content was cut from the finale of the animated Netflix series.
Previously, Linke – who is also showrunner on the League of Legends tie-in – had said in an interview withDexertothat the initial cut of the ninth and final episode of Arcane season 2 was over an hour long.
“The first version came back from [animation studio] Fortiche and they’re like, ‘Guys, it’s over an hour long. We can’t do this.’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ So we kind of chiseled away from that point," Linke said.
When we pressed Linke on what exactly was left on the cutting room floor, he was understandably reluctant to go into too much detail, especially given the recent discourse about how a vocal minority of fansfelt Arcane was rushedin Acts 2 and 3.
“How much do I want to play into the narrative that is going on? [With] some people unhappy about it being rushed, this will only fuel the fire. I mean, there were some things, but it was mostly action that was brought back,” Linke explained.
Even with the cuts, theArcane season 2 endingcertainly stuck the landing – and had viewers looking towards the future in anticipation of what’s next from the League of Legends universe. Linke, though, told us any new project is “years” away.
He said, “It takes time – depending on if it’s a series or a movie. We’re exploring both in many, many directions. A lot of it comes down to finding the right people, the right vision, the right idea, the right story. That’ll take years and once we have confidence that something’s happening, we’ll talk more about it.”
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Arcane season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.For more, read our interview with Christian Linke onfuture plans for a League of Legends project. Then dive into our picks for thebest shows on Netflixandbest movies on Netflix.
I’m the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you’ll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.
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